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Food is a source of comfort and pleasure, but there’s big money involved in keeping you slurping sweet soft drinks and gorging on fast food. Don’t blame the victim, there are a lot of people at fault for obesity.

Can we all just agree that sugar, fat, wheat gluten, dairy, meat and salt are poisons that are killing us? If you read the newspapers, browse the Internet or watch television news, you could very well draw that conclusion. And there are large numbers of people who make the avoidance of one or more of those items a central element of their lives. We are becoming a nation of food tribalists, defined not by where we live or the language we speak, but by what we don’t eat.

A few years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that one of their four top priorities will be epigenetics. At that time I was curious as to how many pediatricians — both in Canada and the USA — were able to explain to the public what the science of epigenetics may involve.

For years, mothers-to-be have been carrying, literally, the burden of ensuring a healthy baby — eat the right things, don’t smoke or drink, get moderate exercise like 30 minutes per day of walking. Now, it turns out dads-to-be need to do some shaping up, too.

As if the arrival of board shorts and bikini season wasn't enough, there's new evidence about the negative effects of carrying extra poundage on the male body. Fortunately, science is also giving us some cool new tools to deal with our increasingly portly profiles.

Coca-Cola says it will work to make lower-calorie drinks and clear nutrition information more widely available around the world, intensifying a push against critics who say its drinks pack on the pounds.

Women have another reason to exercise: It may help prevent kidney stones. You don't have to break a sweat or be a super athlete, either. Even walking for a couple hours a week can cut the risk of developing this painful and common problem by about one-third, a large study found.

The world of health and fitness is continually changing and evolving. I have just returned from speaking at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Conference in Las Vegas where the most current research, trends and programs in the health and fitness industry are shared annually. The college is recognized as one of the global leaders in exercise science, health, wellness, fitness and lifestyle education.

I think it’s fair to say that, compared to women, men are less interested in diets, tend not to read the nutrition labeling on products, and have more of an “I’ll eat what I darn well please” attitude. We love to barbecue, and I’ve yet to see a quinoa salad on sale at a football game or hockey arena. The good news is that the male approach may have some advantages.

Have you stored a little extra fat to carry you through the cold months of Canadian winter? You aren’t alone. While a glance at a magazine stand might persuade you otherwise, the majority of Canadians are overweight according to standard medical definitions. Born from our collective discontent over our size is a multibillion dollar weight loss industry; pervasive advertising cheers us on towards shrinking dimensions. So prevalent is the discourse regarding dieting and weight loss we have, as a society, come to believe than thinner is better.

Eating like our distant ancestors is the most popular road to weight loss, according to Consumer Reports. The February issue of the U.S.-based magazine, available online now at ConsumerReports.org, rates both do-it-yourself diets and commercial programs based on response from 9,376 of its dieting readers.

Most drivers understand the wisdom of pulling over before using a cellphone or other piece of technology. All Canadian provinces and territories have some form of distracted driving law, and the fines, currently $172 in Alberta, are certainly getting our attention. Now, experts are telling us about another hazardous behaviour — distracted eating.

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By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

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